Events
Roger Sherman on “Bach by the Numbers: Symbols and Puzzles”
Bach by the Numbers A Lecture by Roger Sherman Artistic Director Emeritus, Orcas Choral Society Sunday, November 4, at 2:00 p.m. in Orcas Island Community Church There is much more to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach than what we hear when it is played. For over a...
Sidney Perkowitz on “Two Hundred Years of Frankenstein”
Two hundred years ago, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley created one of the most famous novels ever written, Frankenstein — a remarkable book with a remarkable backstory.
Chris Jordan: “Albatross — The Film”
A Film and Lecture by Chris Jordan. Watch the entire film: albatrossthefilm.com/watch-albatross. This feature-length documentary film is a powerful visual journey into the gut-wrenching environmental tragedy occurring on remote Midway Island, which lies a thousand miles northwest of Hawaii.
Russel Barsh on “The Marine Food Web”
Summer brings millions of migratory seabirds, fish, and marine mammals to the San Juan Islands, where hundreds of miles of tightly folded shorelines and nutrient-rich waters foster a dense soup of algae and microscopic crustaceans.
Erik Conway on “Dreaming about Rocks from the Red Planet”
Planetary scientists have sought to collect and examine samples from Mars since the beginning of the space age over fifty years ago. But although there are already Mars rocks on Earth, they are not sufficient.
James Elser, University of Montana and Arizona State University, on “Phosphorus, Food, and Our Future”
The element phosphorus is essential for the formation of our genes and bones — and absolutely crucial for thriving agriculture and ecosystems in general. But excess phosphorus runoff from farms, feedlots, and cities often pollutes rivers, lakes, and oceans. And...
Orcas Currents Lecturer Barry Barish Wins Nobel Prize
Caltech Professor Emeritus Barry Barish, who delivered an engaging Orcas Currents lecture on the subject in July 2016, has just been awarded a share of the 2017 Nobel Prize in physics for his crucial contributions to the discovery of gravity waves. These delicate...
David Montgomery on “Growing a Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to Life”
Throughout history, civilizations have withered and even disappeared after destroying their once-fertile soils. We now risk repeating this age-old trauma on a global scale due to ongoing soil-degradation, climate change, and rapidly rising populations.
Hedrick Smith and Sarah Stillman on “The Future of Journalism in a Post-Truth Environment”
With journalism under increasing siege in the United States, two of its leading practitioners met to discuss “The Future of Journalism in a Post-Truth Environment.”
Robert Dash, photographer and author, on “An Acre Shy of Eternity: The Small, Wild Beauty of Orcas Island”
Author and photographer Robert Dash takes nature exploration to new levels in his book On An Acre Shy of Eternity…